Connector member with resilient center



May 22, 1956 H. w. BATCHELLER CONNECTOR MEMBER WITH RESILIENT CENTERFiled July 16, 1954 United States Patent CONNECTOR MEMBER WITH RESILHENTCENTER Hugh W. Batcheller, Newton, Mass., assignor to Kent Mfg. Corp.,Newton, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 16, 1954,Serial No. 443,902

1 Claim. (Cl. 339-258) This invention relates to an electric connectorconsisting of complementary members of the male and female type whereinthe male member may be a simple plane metal tongue and the female is achannel shaped member adapted to receive and hold the tongue. Theinvention relates more particularly to improvements in a female memberof the type referred to. This member includes essentially a piece ofmetal strip stock bent to form a shallow channel having a floor withside walls rising from the side edges thereof and inturned flanges onsaid side walls overhanging the side margins of the floor. The channelis of a size and shape to be fitted by the tongue of a male member whichshould be tightly pressed between the floor and flanges of the femalemember in order to form a good electrical connection. Such pressurebetween the members is usually obtained by providing a resilientlyyielding element on one or the other of the members so as to allow forslight variations which are liable to occur in the thickness of thestock of which members are made. The resilient element or elements arearranged to be sprung or distorted when the members are joined to makethe connection. The force which tends to restore the distorted elementsto their unstressed position is utilized to press interfaces 'ofthemembers and thus to ensure a good electrical connection. The presentinvention relates to new and improved structures of the resilientelements. These structures are hereinafter described in detail and areillustrated on the drawings, of which Figure l is a plan view of themembers of an electrical connector embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same;

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view of the members as in Figure 2, but inassembled relation;

Figure 5 is a plan view of a modified form of female connector member;and

Figure 6 is a section on the line 66 of Figure 5.

A connector consisting of a female member 10 and a male member 12 isshown in Figure 1. The female member has a floor 14, side walls 16 andinturned flanges 18 along the upper edges of the side walls. A novelresilient element is provided in the form of a central boss 20surrounded by circular corrugations 22. As indicated in Figures 2 and 3,the boss 20 projects above the upper face of the floor 14, the ridges ofthe corrugations on this face being flush with the floor. The ridges ofthe corrugations on the bottom face of the floor project below thebottom face. The corrugations provide considerable resilience whenpressure is brought to bear on the boss 20 by reason of their shape, ona principle similar to the expansion of a sylphon bellows. The boss 20and corrugations 22 are preferably cold-forged between suitable dies.Since the metal in the forged portion of the floor must be stretchedsomewhat to form the boss and corrugations, it is thinned and hardenedby the forging operation. This adds materially to the resilience of thecorrugated area. The other member 12 of the connector may be providedwith indentations 24 suitably located so that one of them will receivethe top of the boss 20 when the connection is made to hold the membersagainst accidental separation.

A modified form of the invention is illustrated in Fig ures 5 and 6. Theconnector member may for the most part be similar to that shown inFigure 1, it having a floor 30, with upstanding side walls 32, inturnedflanges 34 along the tops of the side Walls, and a central boss 36projecting up from the floor. In this case the desired extra resiliencein the floor is provided by cutting two or more circular series of longarcuate slots 38 and 40, the slots in each series being staggered withrespect to the slots in the other series. The slots in each series arefew in number, preferably not over four, and are spaced from one anotherby narrow necks 42 and 44, the former being between ends of slots of theinner series shown in Figure 5, the latter being between ends of slotsin the outer series. The necks 42 are connected to the necks 44 byelongated arcuate elements 46 the width of which is determined by theradial spacing between the inner and outer series of slots. The necks 42and 44 and arcuate elements 46 which support the central boss 36 provideconsiderable resilient yielding the degree of which can be regulated byspacing of the slots which determine the length and width of the necks42 and 44 and the elements 46.

The increase in resilience by the means described permits the boss 20 or36 to be pressed down a greater distance without approaching too closeto the elastic limit, as compared with a floor having simply a centralboss and nothing more.

I claim:

In an electrical connector member of the kind having a floor, upstandingside walls, and inturned flanges at the tops of the side walls, acentral boss in said floor projecting up above the level of the floor,and circular corrugations in said floor concentric with said boss, theridges of said corrugations being substantially flush with the floorlevel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,995,115 Douglas Mar. 19, 1935 2,336,385 Batcheller Dec. 7, 19432,615,736 Bergan Oct. 28, 1952 2,682,040 Batcheller June 22, 1954

